Amagansett Food Institute

Cold open: Beware the Ides of March, dear reader – oh, wait, it’s the Ides of May. It only feels like March. But it’s actually May 15 out there, midpoint of the month, two-thirds of the way through spring and halfway home in this latest (chilly) week of socioeconomic innovation. For the record, as of Tuesday afternoon, the Weather Channel was forecasting that high temperatures on Long Island wouldn’t exceed 70 degrees until the…

Middle march: Onwards and upwards, dear readers, as this latest week of socioeconomic progress plows ahead. It’s Feb. 13 out there, and if you had boozing brawler Guo Wei leading a military coup and declaring himself emperor of China’s short-lived Later Zhou dynasty on this date in 951 A.D., nice work – here’s a voucher for 100 copper Ban Liang coins. Dial it up: Before we dive in, a peaceful World Radio Day –…

Couldn’t have said it better: You’ve done it, intrepid reader – the end of another busy workweek is nigh and another autumn weekend looms. To set the mood, please enjoy 81 famous, semi-famous and not-famous-just-awesome Friday quotes. It’s Oct. 19 out there, marking the 2,220th anniversary (give or take) of the Second Punic War’s pivotal Battle of Zama, which was fought on this date (or thereabouts) in the year 202 BC (they think). Whenever…

Middle ground: Welcome to Wednesday, friends, and the midpoint of another busy workweek on beautiful Long Island. It’s Sept. 19 out there – Day 730 of the bitter Brangelina divorce proceedings, which kicked off when Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from Brad Pitt two years ago today. Stay tuned. Shofar, so good: It started at sundown Tuesday and lasts through sundown today, when they’ll be blowing the ceremonial ram’s horn at synagogues around the world….

That’s a wrap: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, and the end of another busy week for the Long Island innovation economy. It’s May 4 – Memorial Day in Curaçao, Greenery Day in Japan and, here in the States, the 238th anniversary of the American Academy of Arts & Science, founded in Boston on this date in 1780. Charter members included John Adams, Samuel Adams, Samuel Phillips, Phillips Payson, Samuel Williams, Abraham Williams and several men…

By AMY ONORATO // The food industry is Anna Kotler’s bread and butter. The 20-year marketing veteran built her career working on brand development for food-focused Fortune 500 companies like Campbell’s Soup Co. and Conagra Brands Inc. – but when it came to defining her own recipe for success, Kotler wasn’t satisfied with the corporate climate’s structured lifestyle. “After working for those big packaged-food companies, I wanted a little more flexibility in my schedule,” Kotler…

By GREGORY ZELLER // At least, after today, they’ll stop playing all that Community Supported Agriculture music on the radio. In case it somehow escaped your attention, today is CSA Day, a quasi-holiday/day of observance started in 2014 by Small Farm Central, a Pittsburgh-based tech firm that creates software and other digital tools for agricultural entrepreneurs. Community Supported Agriculture is a model through which customers buy pre-season “shares” of local crops, helping farmers survive lean…

By GREGORY ZELLER // There’s fresh thinking and then there’s the Amagansett Food Institute, which operates well ahead of the food-innovation curve on its mission to promote regional producers. Just a year into its ballyhooed takeover of the decades-old Amagansett Farmer’s Market, the imaginative institute – a membership-based 501(c)3 catering to farmers, vintners, fishermen, beverage crafters and other food artisans – is already imagining physical renovations and other organizational enhancements designed to spice up the…